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World Wide Web
Definitions The World Wide Web (www) (also called simply the Web) is History In 1990, the Web's main architect, Tim Berners-Lee, a programmer at CERN, the European Particle Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, collaborated with colleague Robert Caillau on the design document that explained hypertext as a way to link and access information. It described how documents could be interwoven in a network of links called a web. The 1990 document discussed notions fundamental to the Web as it is known today: the ability of links to cross computer or network boundaries; a common protocol for exchanging documents (Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP); a common document protocol for information suppliers and customers (Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML); support for index searches; the ability to view these documents with text or graphics browsers; and the location of pages of information by means of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). The Web marked the merger of three different strands of innovation: Personal computing, networking, and connective software. In 1992, the Web was text-based, relatively unknown outside of academia, and used mainly by engineers, scientists, and computer hobbyists. In the spring of 1993, a software program called Mosaic was developed. It allowed users to view both text and graphics. The World Wide Web and the Internet are often confused by the public. But in reality, the World Wide Web is a system of linked documents and files, which operates over and is accessible by means of the Internet, but is entirely distinct from the network of networks, the Internet itself. Indeed, many other forms of communication, such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC), or Voice over IP (VoIP), using different protocols, co-exist with the World Wide Web on the Internet. Overview The Web has two primary features that make it a powerful, "full service" method of accessing information through the Internet. First, Web clients, or browsers, can combine text and graphical material, and can incorporate all of the other major Internet services such as FTP, email, and news into one standard interface. Second, the Web incorporates a hypertext system that allows individual Web pages to provide direct links to other Web pages, files, and other types of information. Thus, full-scale user interfaces and complex services such as online shopping, continuously-updated news information, and videogames can be provided through the Internet over a non-proprietary system. The Web thus forms the foundation for virtually all Internet-based services. Evolution of the Web The web has gone through several distinct evolutionary stages: * Stage 1. First was the research phase, when the web was called the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). During this time, the web was primarily used by academia for research purposes. * Stage 2. The second phase of the web can be coined "brochureware." Characterized by the domain name "gold rush," this stage focused on the need for almost every company to share information on the Internet so that people could learn about products and services. * Stage 3. The third evolution moved the web from static data to transactional information, where products and services could be bought and sold, and services could be delivered. During this phase, companies like eBay and Amazon.com exploded on the scene. This phase also will be infamously remembered as the "dot-com" boom and bust. * Stage 4. The fourth stage, where we are now, is the "social" or "experience" web, where companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon have become immensely popular and profitable (a notable distinction from the third stage of the web) by allowing people to communicate, connect, and share information (text, photos, and video) about themselves with friends, family, and colleagues. References Source * Evolution of the Web section: The Internet of Things: How the Next Evolution of the Internet Is Changing Everything, at 5. Category:Internet Category:Technology